The Child War, Book One: Captured

Blurb

The metal of his long sword clicked against the throat of its sheath as Leoxri shifted his posture yet again. He had been sitting and looking over the town of Shield for half a day, and his leanly muscled body was telling him that it was uncomfortable. Thankfully, he was able to ignore it though. The observation was too crucial to be distracted by minor issues. He was after a very dangerous target after all. No mistakes would be tolerated and the price for failure started at his life and only went up from there.
"I cannot screw this up." He muttered.
He laid a gloved hand on the dark blue and gold scarf wrapped around his neck and breathed in its soft scent. Doing so always gave him comfort and cleared his head of distractions. It certainly helped here, as the exhaustion and boredom that was starting to creep into his mind vanished. His dull red eyes sharpened and he put his attention back to the town.

Chapter One

185th Day of 12 A.A.R., Outskirts of Shield, Unasea

The metal of his long sword clicked against the throat of its sheath as Leoxri shifted his posture yet again. He had been sitting and looking over the town of Shield for half a day, and his leanly muscled body was telling him that it was uncomfortable. Thankfully, he was able to ignore it though. The observation was too crucial to be distracted by minor issues. He was after a very dangerous target after all. No mistakes would be tolerated and the price for failure started at his life and only went up from there.

“I cannot screw this up.” He muttered.

He laid a gloved hand on the dark blue and gold scarf wrapped around his neck and breathed in its soft scent. Doing so always gave him comfort and cleared his head of distractions. It certainly helped here, as the exhaustion and boredom that was starting to creep into his mind vanished. His dull red eyes sharpened and he put his attention back to the town.

Shield was a fortified town much like any other in Unasea, the home of the United Races. The stone wall circling the town was thick enough for two normal sized men to walk side-by-side.

Which also meant it was just large enough for the half-beast Wera. It was also twenty feet tall, which made it nearly impossible for a single person to climb it.

Two guards stood on top of each of the two gates into the town and two more were placed at the other compass points. Inside the wall were lines of dark brown and grey buildings which looked as if they would collapse at any second. From his vantage point, he could see tiny dots of people moving into said buildings, especially for the center of Shield where a waterless fountain and various vendor stalls stood. Despite its looks, it was a sturdy town that held its own without damage from the outside.

Well, without much damage.

A recent attack by his masters, the Axri, left a massive hole in the wall at the east side. It was obvious that Shield was not able to repair the wall yet, so they placed two sentries at it. One of the sentries was either a half-elf, like Leoxri, or a human. The build of he man under his armor was very lean and wiry and he held shorts word and dagger which was usually used by nimble duelists.

The other was definitely a Wera. They were the only race on the face of Valista that grew so large. Not only that, but fur poked out of the armor’s slits and the woman had two greatswords strapped to her back.

One thing that Leoxri was never able to understand, though, was that they had bare feet. No one in the United Races wore shoes ever. It always creeped him out.

That hole was where he would enter, though, so he did not have time for the creeping feeling he was getting. When he got through that hole, it would be a twenty minute walk through open streets and alleyways to get to his main objective: the Barracks. Once that was done, he would sneak through another hole created by the same Axri attack and up to the bedroom of his target. That would be the easy part.

The hard part would be getting out again.

As this was a kidnapping, and not an assassination, he had to make sure the target stayed unconscious while carrying her out of the town. It would be much harder to get both himself and the target passed the guards, outside the city and in a veil.

As he was going through the plan in his head, he noticed that the guards at the wall were finally changing shifts. The new arrivals walked up, kissed the forehead of the old guard, exchanged some polite words, and then the old guard stepped away. Leoxri turned his attention to the hole in the wall ad saw the same scene. At both sites, the new guard did not look any less skilled than the old guard. The town was really taking their defense seriously. But right after an attack, that was to be expected.

“Man, I was really given a tough job this time.” Leoxri sighed.

He looked up at the sky and observed the two suns shining in the sky. The bright yellow orb was crossing the horizon while the brilliant sapphire sun lagged halfway between the peak of the sky and the horizon.

“About four hours. That was the same as the last change.”

He pulled himself up to his feet and stretched the lean, but stiff, muscles under pale skin. Joints popped and crackled as they let out complaints of being moved after hours of general rest. His long white hair fell in front of his face as he did, so he reached up to pull the hair back from his bright red eyes and into a tail.

“I wish all of my jobs were that consistent. Another hour should do it.”

During the next hour Leoxri made sure all of his equipment was in working condition. The black and gold leather armor was strapped on tight and had no noticeable flaws. The cloak at his back was intact and it covered his left arm. The longsword at his left hip was nick free and the pistol at his left thigh was primed and ready to fire. To make sure, he tested it against a tree.

Leoxri started waving the barrel of the pistol in front of him. It would have looked silly if lines of shimmering brown did not form where ever the barrel of the gun pointed to. As more lines were created, the brighter they glowed until the rune of two pincer-like spikes was finished. He flexed his finger and pulled the trigger. The dirt under his feet rolled forward, almost taking him with it, and concentrated under the tree. Then two huge flat-edged spikes of dirt shot up and crashed against the tree. Leoxri could hear the bark of wood crack and snap like bones. Satisfied, he released the trigger and the dirt returned to where it was before and the bright rune disappeared.

“Thank goodness earth can be found everywhere.”

When the time came to move, he pointed his finger and waved it around in another Drawing. This time, the bright blue lines resembled an incomplete bubble with its hole at the bottom and a diamond in the center when he finished. He cast the spell by curling his finger and he could feel the water in the air and earth flow toward him. It was sluggish as there was not much to use, but it was enough to do the job. The water curved around him and connected at the top. He could see through the water, except his view had a blue tint, and he knew that it would be difficult for anyone in the outside to see him as the water surrounding him bent light.

Feeling the spell finish taking hold, or at least as much of a hold as it could under the circumstances, Leoxri started running for the gate.

“Time to start the mission. Let the air take my mercy and the earth swallow my sorrow.”

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